megotelek

Ok. I was very excited after SIX WEEKS of hiatus to come back to the "fresh" (whatever, WB) episodes of Gilmore Girls. Boy, was I wrong. I know lots of big stuff is coming up at the end and during sweeps and we need filler sometimes but geez, right after hiatus? Anyway...here's my rambly review of the episode.

We open with Lorelai and Sookie in a really long line. Lorelai is criticizing the many things that come in trail mix nowadays and seriously, I don't blame her. Trail mix should be peanuts, raisins and M&Ms...mmm...anyway, off on a tangent there. We find out that they are waiting to pay their last respects...again...to Old Man Twickham. Who has never before been introduced to us in any way, shape or form. Right. Kirk is selling souvenirs, however, so that's amusing for a little while. Lorelai throws something green away from the trail mix as we go to opening credits.

Somehow, Paris/Doyle and Rory/Logan have both broken up over the hiatus. This was about the point I began wondering if I had missed an episode. Paris is blasting the Titan Symphony (which I loved, by the way...) and Rory is in denial. Apparently. From the non-relationship "cazh" affair she's having with Logan. Again, whatever. Rory leaves Paris to blast her ~~goth rock~~ Mahler in peace. Except Paris decides that if Rory is going out, she should go out too. They both leave. So Rory surprises her mom at home, because: "I didn't have anything else to do." I'm really not liking Rory this season. Lorelai has two surprises for Rory: One, Paris beat her there and can't go anywhere else because her parents are on the run from the law in Europe, and can't own property in the United States anymore. I don't know about you, but I love Paris. Two, Kirk is also there, as he is now homeless and the town is rotating babysitting duties. Um, Kirk? Pssst! Move in with Lulu, maybe? Your girlfriend? Just a thought...anyway, back to the "action".

So there's a funny bit where Lorelai goes into Rory's room and Kirk comes in to ask for something and he's got his eyes closed. Lorelai asks him why that is. Kirk: "I didn't know if you'd be naked." Lorelai: "You thought I would just walk into my daughter's room and get naked?" I giggled. Because I am a small child. Kirk then bumps into about fifty things looking for a water glass.

I am so leaving scenes out of this review because I watched it once last night and my mind is already working in self-defense to block them. Old Man Twickham dies (finally?) and leaves his house to the town with the stipulation that it be turned into the Stars Hollow History Museum for two months and then sold. This is all revealed at a town meeting that Taylor (huh? What happened to Jackson?) is running. Taylor asks for volunteers to convert the house into a museum. Luke volunteers. Excitedly. Everyone is confused and the "Luke is volunteering to do a town thing without being asked" joke gets really old, really fast. Especially when he bends over backwards to help Taylor and ends up wearing a bright orange T-Shirt over his flannel and holding Taylor's hand. Really. He tells Lorelai he wants to do it because he thought of Old Man Twickham as a father and wants to help out. Lorelai thinks this is sweet. Except when Taylor is handing out assignments, he asks Luke again why he is volunteering and says that Luke hated Old Man Twickham (hereafter referred to as OMT) and called him names. Luke tells Taylor he is volunteering because Lorelai bullied him into it. What? Luke is lying to everyone and being chipper and helping out? Agh! It's Pod!Luke on the rampage!

In the meantime, Lorelai is giving an interview about the Dragonfly. Luke is really excited and hugs her excitedly in the diner. Lorelai looks very wary of Pod!Luke as he does his happy dancing. Luke is giving her advice on which staff reporter for the travel magazine should do the interview if she gets to pick. Fast forward to the actual interview. Lorelai says warm-and-fuzzy things about the Inn, Sookie, Stars Hollow and her friends. The interviewer says that the inn is so homey, it must be from Lorelai's upbringing. Which produces a snort from Lorelai and a tangent into Emily-bashing. Lorelai: "Well, I think of what she would do in a given situation, and then I dial it back, and I get what Mussolini would do, and then I dial it back, and I get what Stalin would do, and then I dial it back, and I start approaching what a sane person would do..." The reporter is eating it all up, by the way. Later Lorelai explains all this to Rory, and Rory's shocked, like SHOCKED. Rory: "Did you tell her it was off the record?" Lorelai: ... Me: *facepalm*

The next morning, Lorelai is being 50sMom!Lorelai to Rory, Paris and Kirk. It's really funny, especially when she's telling Kirk to turn off the cartoons and eat his cereal and stop making forts with the cereal boxes! Seriously, this was one of the only parts I thoroughly enjoyed.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Luke helps build the museum, and part of it is this multimedia "diorama" about the history of the town illustrated with...spotlights and mannequins. Yeah. Everyone goes to the grand opening and Miss Patty is selling some of that famous Founder's Day Punch out front. Everyone gets a free cup with their $3 admission fee! Lorelai and Sookie go inside to revel in the Kitsch-That-Is-Stars-Hollow Museum (KTISHM). It's pretty funny with the letters which are supposedly written by people who are believed to be the friends of a person who might have been related to someone slightly famous. Ooh, riveting! There's a funny where they have to use flashlights to see the authentic cannonball that has authentically been dropped through the floor as it weighs 100 lbs.

Cut to outside, where Rory, Paris and Lane are drowning their boy-troubles in Miss Patty's super-punch. Rory is upset because Logan has apparently completely blown her off and isn't speaking to her. Paris is upset because Doyle is avoiding her, and Lane is upset because Zach told her he was meeting some friends instead of going with her to buy cleaning supplies and later she saw him with Carole King. Eventually, Lane stumbles drunkenly off to confront Carole King, and Paris stumbles drunkenly away after giving Rory her shoes (and socks) which will make sure she doesn't make a pay-phone call to Doyle (?). Rory is left with the punch. Paris (as Rory predicted) finds a pay phone and then proceeds to harass passers-by for change. When they don't give her change, she has to resort to blowing raspberries accompanied by rude gestures. No, really. I'm imagining a really BIG gallows for Daniel Palladino right now.

Lane confronts Carole King about Zach, and CK points her to the back of the music store, where Zach....is playing the banjo. That's his deep dark secret. He's always wanted to be in a bluegrass band and he likes playing the banjo. I'm just gonna stop now.

Inside the KTISHM, Lorelai and Sookie are riveted by the cheesy "diorama". Although the mute kid is hilarious. I laughed, really hard. And Taylor with the "increasingly discounted theory of evolution". Pod!Luke is still at it, happy as a clam, really excited to see how Lorelai and Sookie like the "DIE-orama" (emphasis mine). Lorelai's cell phone rings in the museum, and she steps into the TV Land Cone Of Silence to answer it. It's Sandra, the reporter from the travel magazine. Apparently Lorelai got spooked by the idea of every horrible thing she said about Emily (even though Emily deserves it) being printed in the article. The reporter isn't; she loved the "color" it gave to the article. Lorelai must choose: keep the article and publicity for the Inn and drive her mother further away, or pull the article/publicity and Emily stays the same. She decides to keep the article.

Outside the KTISHM, Lorelai and Sookie are making plans to bring everyone they know to the "DIE-orama". Lorelai makes a quick call to the reporter, Sandra, and decides to pull the article. She's fickle? Taylor is excited about the opening of the museum and now wants to disregard OMT's wishes and keep his house a museum forever. Maybe even going on tour! KTISHM forever! Luke gets freaked out and tells Taylor that he wants to by the OMT house. Why, you ask? To live in and raise a family! Taylor: "With who, Lorelai?" Luke: "*sputters* yeah, with...whoever!" Now, I'm pretty sure he just doesn't want to give Taylor any more ribbon-fodder, but who's to say? Is all well on the L/L homefront?

Lorelai comes up and Luke quizzes her about the OMT house. Lorelai says she likes it. Luke grins broadly and says he does too. Rory stumbles up and Lorelai gets tipsy off her breath and helps her home. Then, we get the worst scene in GG followed by a not-so-bad scene of GG.

The Worst Scene in GG:

Dean is leaving the OMT house with much glaring and eye-rolling at Luke. Luke finally confronts him and basically says: What's wrong with you? Do you want to hit me? Go ahead, you little floppy-haired punk! Dean says that "they" (the Girls?) will always want more than "this" (Stars Hollow?) and that all Luke is is "this". Dean then compares himself to Luke some more (NO! Luke is not you, Dean! He never cheated on his wife and then got stuck in dead-end jobs and left his girlfriend because of an inferiority complex! NO!) and basically tells Luke that he's not good enough for Lorelai. Luke gives him a "whatever, jerk" look and Dean walks away.

The Not-So-Bad Scene:

Cut to Rory crying on the floor of the bathroom with her head in Lorelai's lap. She's sobbing: "Why doesn't he like me? Why doesn't he call?" over and over and Lorelai is stroking her hair with the "It's ok. It's gonna be ok." Awww...I remember feeling like that as a teenager.

Next Week: Logan buckles under the weight of Rory, and we meet the Huntzberger clan for the first time. Could be interesting, eh?